Kenya: Police kill terror suspects - report

Tuesday September 15, 2015

By Adow Mohamed 

The police are conducting brutal and dehumanising counter-terrorism operations against suspected terrorists, a leaked report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights says.

The commission says the arrests are carried out with “pernicious impunity” and in “complete contravention of the law” with suspects subjected to “cruel torture, inhuman and degrading treatment”.

The state agency says in the report torture chambers exist in military camps at Mandera, Garissa and Lamu.

“The conduct by security agencies constitute grave violation of the Kenyan law and regional and international human rights principles and standards that protect people from arbitrary arrests and detention,” the report states.

In May, the Star exclusively reported the discovery of 11 bodies in a shallow grave in Wajir county.

The Star also gave the account of the alleged torture of Affey Ali by military in Wajir.

The commission has corroborated both incidents in the report.

It says detainees were held beyond the 24-hour limit provided for in the constitution without being presented to a competent judicial authority.

“Further they were being held incommunicado without access to means of communicating with their next of kin or legal counsel,” it states.

The complaints, mainly by the Muslim and Somali communities, involve arbitrary arrests, illegal detention, torture and enforced disappearances.

The government has denied rights violation of terror suspects.

The counter-terrorism operations are being conducted by a combined contingent of the Kenya Defence Forces, the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit and the National Intelligence Service.

Others involved in the operations are the Rapid Deployment Unit of the Administration Police, Border Patrol Unit and the General Service Unit.

Some of the officers are sent from Nairobi to Northeastern and the Coast with a “specific mission”.

Some officers conducting the operations arrive in targeted areas, hire cars and conduct covert missions without the knowledge and authority of the local police, including county commanders, the report says.

Some of the victims said they were handcuffed and their faces were covered. They were beaten for more than eight hours.

“The commission is concerned that the ongoing crackdown continues to disproportionately target certain groups of people particularly ethnic Somalis and members of the Muslim faith in the Coast.”